Chennai: State Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan visited the Mullaiperiyar dam, located in Kerala’s Idukki district, and reviewed the water storage there in the backdrop of the opposition AIADMK calling for a massive agitation on Tuesday, November 9, in all the five districts fed by the water from the dam.
Duraimurugan, accompanied by a few State Ministers, including PWD Minister E V Velu, DMK leaders and officials, reached the dam by boat from Thekkadi in Tamil Nadu on Friday and took stock of the situation there in view of the heavy inflow of water due to rains in the catchment areas.
‘The Minister who held the PWD portfolio during the previous AIADMK regime had never visited the dam in the last 10 years,’ he told the media on his return. The AIADMK had no moral authority to call for a protest relating to an issue on Mullaiperiyar, he added.
Stating that the AIADMK leaders knew nothing about the dam or the issues connected with it, Duraimurugan, who as PWD Minister in the government led by M Karunanidhi had dealt with the Kerala government when disputes had risen in the past over the dam, said he would resolve the issue through talks.
A final solution to the decades-long dispute with Kerala over the storage level of water in the dam would be found during the tenure of Pinayari Vijayan as Chief Minister, the Minister said.
Since the water from the dam, built at the confluence of the Mullaiyar and Periyar rivers by a British engineer John Pennycuick, is meant for the use of the people in Theni, Madurai, Dindigul, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts, the AIADMK has called for protests in all the district headquarters.
The AIADMK’s allegation is that the DMK government had failed to protect the rights of the State vis-à-vis Mullaipeiyar as it brought down the level in the dam much below the 142 feet.
In the statement calling for the protest, AIADMK leaders, O Panneerselvam and Edappai K Palaniswami, claimed that the needs of five districts could be met only if the water was stored at 152 feet.
They said former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had striven for maintaining the water level at 152 feet through legal means and accused the DMK government-led by M K Stalin of giving in to the demands of Kerala and letting out water even before the level reached 142 feet.
They had also directly attacked Duraimurugan for covering up facts relating to the water release, which some media reports said was done by Kerala. They accused the government of not countering the rumours spread by Kerala over the safety of the dam.
Water from the Mullaiperiyar dam was crucial for the 7 lakh farmers in the five districts to irrigate their crops and to meet the drinking water needs of 80 lakh people, the AIADMK said.
